Mojtaba Jafarian Abyaneh

PhD Candidate, Transportation Engineering

I am a PhD candidate and Graduate Research Assistant at Florida Atlantic University, working in the I-SENSE Lab with Prof. Jinwoo Jang. I hold an M.Sc. in Civil Engineering from the University of New Brunswick and an M.Sc. in Earthquake Engineering from the Iran University of Science and Technology.

My research applies deep learning to intelligent transportation systems — Transformer-based multi-agent trajectory prediction for pedestrians, vehicles, and cyclists from real-world LiDAR data, spatial graph neural networks for mobility flow, and urban digital twins for city-scale wind simulation. My work is funded by the NSF (Center for Smart Streetscapes, EEC-2133516) and the NIH (R01AG068472).

Email · Scholar · ORCID · GitHub · LinkedIn · CV · Resume

Research Interests

Deep Learning for Intelligent Transportation SystemsMulti-Agent Trajectory PredictionSpatial Graph Neural NetworksComputer Vision & LiDAR ProcessingUrban Transportation Safety ModelingUrban Digital Twins & CFD SimulationSpatiotemporal Flow Prediction

Publications

Spatial Interaction Pooling Transformer (SIPT) for Multi-Agent Trajectory Prediction in Urban StreetscapesUnder Review

M. Jafarian Abyaneh, J. Jang, A. W. Smyth, M. K. Turkcan

IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems — 2026
Transformer-Based Trajectory Prediction Using LiDAR Data for Situational Awareness in Complex Urban EnvironmentsPublished

M. Jafarian Abyaneh, J. Jang

IEEE Open Journal of Intelligent Transportation Systems, Vol. 7, pp. 16–28 — 2026 (Impact Factor: 6.007)

DOI · IEEE Xplore · Abstract
Spatial Graph Convolutional Network for Predicting Bike-Sharing Origin–Destination Spatiotemporal FlowsPreprint

M. Jafarian Abyaneh, J. Jang, E. I. Kaisar

SSRN Working Paper No. 5801889 — 2025

SSRN · DOI
What Simplified City Models Miss: Hurricane Pedestrian Wind Hazard from Voxelized Photorealistic Urban GeometryIn Prep

M. Jafarian Abyaneh, J. Jang

In preparation — 2026
Baseline updating method for structural damage identification using modal residual force and grey wolf optimizationPublished

A. Zare Hosseinzadeh, G. Ghodrati Amiri, M. Jafarian Abyaneh, A. Ghadimi Hamzehkolaei

Engineering Optimization, Vol. 52, No. 4 — 2020

DOI · Abstract
Vibration testing of cracked reinforced concrete beams under sustained loadPublished

M. Jafarian Abyaneh

M.Sc. Thesis, University of New Brunswick — 2020
Model Updating-Based Approach for Damage Prognosis in Frames via Modal Residual ForcePublished

G. Ghodrati Amiri, M. Jafarian Abyaneh, A. Zare Hosseinzadeh

Int. J. of Civil, Environmental, Structural, Construction and Architectural Engineering, Vol. 10, No. 8 — 2016

DOI · Abstract
A new two-stage method for damage identification in linear-shaped structures via Grey System Theory and optimization algorithmPublished

G. Ghodrati Amiri, A. Zare Hosseinzadeh, M. Jafarian Abyaneh

Journal of Rehabilitation in Civil Engineering, Vol. 3, No. 2, pp. 36–50 — 2015

DOAJ · Abstract

News

May 2026Presented Predicting the Crowd: Spatially-Informed Transformers for Urban Traffic Agents at the CS3 NSF Renewal Site Visit, Columbia Engineering Innovation Hub, New York, NY.
Mar 2026Presented at the 8th Annual Celebration of Academic Excellence, FAU College of Engineering and Computer Science.
Feb 2026Competed in the Perfect Pitch Competition and presented SIPT at the CS3 Innovation Summit, Columbia University.
Jan 2026Began mentoring 12 undergraduates across two groups in FAU's Vertically Integrated Projects program.
Jan 2026Presented bike-sharing O–D flow prediction at the TRB 105th Annual Meeting, Washington, DC.
Jan 2026Awarded the ASCE Palm Beach Branch Scholarship.
Dec 2025Paper Transformer-Based Trajectory Prediction Using LiDAR Data published in IEEE OJ-ITS.
Aug 2024Started my PhD at Florida Atlantic University in the I-SENSE Lab.

Experience

Doctoral Research Assistant Aug. 2024 – Present

Florida Atlantic University — I-SENSE Lab · Boca Raton, FL

Developed SIPT for multi-agent trajectory prediction: ADE 0.76 m, 26.2% better than Social LSTM on 64,000+ COSMOS trajectories.
Built a Transformer model for LiDAR-based trajectory prediction with 15.24%/13.88% ADE gains over LSTM, published in IEEE OJ-ITS.
Manage the NIH longitudinal dataset (R01AG068472): multi-sensor data and cognitive assessments from 750 older drivers across 12 waves over 3 years.
Run OpenFOAM CFD simulations on HPC for hurricane wind-load analysis of downtown Miami, assessing pedestrian comfort and street-level wind conditions.

Graduate Research Mentor Jan. 2026 – Present

Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) Program, FAU · Boca Raton, FL

Oversee 12 undergraduates across two groups (Environment & Sustainability; Safety & Security) on AI-driven smart sensor applications for coastal resilience.

Data Analyst Nov. 2022 – Jul. 2024

Freelance · Fredericton, NB, Canada

Analyzed import/export data for trade compliance and logistics optimization; built import-volume forecasting models and Tableau dashboards for small and medium-sized businesses.

Graduate Research & Teaching Assistant Sep. 2018 – Oct. 2020

University of New Brunswick · Fredericton, NB, Canada

Modeled reinforced concrete beams under sustained and cyclic loading in ABAQUS; conducted accelerometer-based vibration testing.
Taught the Mechanics of Materials Experimental Lab and the Statics Computational Lab.

Graduate Research Assistant Sep. 2014 – Apr. 2017

Iran University of Science and Technology · Tehran, Iran

Investigated structural health monitoring and damage detection via optimization-based algorithms (grey wolf optimization, genetic algorithm) for civil infrastructure assessment.

Education

Ph.D. in Transportation and Environmental Engineering 2024 – Present

Florida Atlantic University · GPA 4.0/4.0 · Advisor: Dr. Jinwoo Jang

M.Sc. in Civil Engineering 2018 – 2020

University of New Brunswick · Thesis: Vibration testing of cracked reinforced concrete beams under sustained load

M.Sc. in Civil/Earthquake Engineering 2014 – 2017

Iran University of Science and Technology · Thesis: Structural damage detection via finite element model updating

B.Sc. in Civil Engineering 2010 – 2014

Iran University of Science and Technology

Mentoring

Dana K. Smith — Civil Eng., FAU — voxelization & CFD-ready digital twin pipelines
Jonathan Lalla — CS, FAU — voxelization & CFD-ready digital twin pipelines
Cyrus Khan — CS, UC Riverside (NSF REU) — GPS-to-behavior-metric pipeline, Fast Map Matching
Vedant Sundriyal — CS, Lehman College (NSF REU) — QuASAR: watertight 3D city reconstruction (GitHub)

Research Funding

NSF Engineering Research Center for Smart Streetscapes (CS3), Award No. EEC-2133516 — Graduate Researcher
NIH In-Vehicle Sensors to Detect Cognitive Change in Older Drivers, Award No. 1R01AG068472-01 — Graduate Researcher
FAU Vertically Integrated Projects: Smart Sensors and AI for Coastal Destination Resilience — Graduate Research Mentor

Awards

ASCE Palm Beach Branch Scholarship (2026) — $1,000 competitive award
Esterbauer Civil Engineering Graduate Award, University of New Brunswick (2018–2020)
New Brunswick Innovation Foundation (NBIF) Graduate Award (2018–2019)

Technical Skills

Programming & Tools: Python, MATLAB, LaTeX, Typst, Git, Tableau

AI & Machine Learning: PyTorch, TensorFlow, Keras, Transformers, Spatial GNNs, Computer Vision, LiDAR Processing

Data Science: Pandas, NumPy, Scikit-learn, ArcGIS, GeoPandas, Statistical Analysis

Engineering Software: OpenFOAM (HPC), ABAQUS, ParaView, SAP2000, ETABS, Civil 3D, Synchro, AutoCAD